


Pyrrhic Everlasting

by DollBlood



Series: Hidden Places Universe [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Cannibalism, Gen, Spanish Colonists can suck this monster lesbian's dick, bad fathers, graphic blood at the end, main characters of color, navajo culture, shocker: white people ruined something yet again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 05:44:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16826344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DollBlood/pseuds/DollBlood
Summary: Everything she's done, has been for what she believed to be the greater good for her and her people.





	Pyrrhic Everlasting

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this for a final project, but I liked it a whole bunch and its canon to my universe anyways, so here she is. the love of my life, and most terrifying creation.
> 
> Also, my word processor hates me for using so many languages in my work.

Long before man created the written word, the world was full of giant, magic, ancient beasts. They lived in harmony with humans, in symbiosis at the top of the food chain. But somewhere down the line, these ancient beasts grew fewer and fewer in number, and eventually were lost to history altogether.

This is all Theda knew of her father’s past, and it’s nearly all she knew of her father himself. Her mother had once said he had appeared in their village one day, stayed long enough to sleep with someone, and then was gone. But Theda’s mother was not bitter. She would only stare into the middle distance and smile. She said he was made of ancient magic, not like the magic that the world was steeped in today: it was stronger, hereditary, and it ran strong in Theda’s veins. It explained Theda’s horns, and her ability to transform into a larger-than-average buffalo.

Theda tended to not care about her mother’s rambling about her father. If he wasn’t there for them as she grew up, then he was no father to her at all. There were plenty of men in their village who easily and readily took up the role in his place, as they were a community based off of care.

But still, his presence lingered around her. She never knew him, but her people would note things about her that were so distinctly him. She aged slowly, like the man who appeared young but claimed to be a few hundred years old. He had passed on the power of the Ancient Beasts, which explained her animal magic, and apparently, if the sun caught her just right, she had his eyes.

Over and over, she told herself that she didn’t care. She was right, for a time, too. But curiosity could easily take hold of anyone, given enough time. And time was something she had plenty of.

As the people in her village grew older, and the people who had been born the same season as she had been grew sparser in number, Theda had not physically aged past the human concept of ten. It was apparent that she had a body unlike any others she ever knew. Her mother had long since passed, and new tribe leaders had come and gone, and still she did not stand anywhere but at hip height with her people.

It gave her lots of time to think. She could debate that using her head at all was where it all went wrong, but perhaps that was giving herself a bit too much credit and control over her life. After all, she may have grown to be a clever leader, but she never was all that smart.

Four generations of leadership changes came through her village before she decided to discover herself better. By then she had the appearance of a young woman, but she had been around for so long, that her people treated her like an old wise woman. It was an honor, but in her magic-fueled heart, she knew she was still very young, and had much to learn. The village had come to rely on her for passing on traditions, but she alone could not keep it up. If her leaving to find herself meant her people would have to develop some changes to their culture, then so be it. Change was good. It kept the land fresh and allowed for play. Her people would survive, she knew.

Though she was content with not knowing her father, not knowing his culture bothered her. She knew it was now a dead tribe, but surely, not every member was the type to leave their children to grow up without a proper father. This way, she’d be able to know how she could carry on the good parts of her missing lineage, if any.

So early in the warming season, she strapped packed bags to her back, in her buffalo form, and set off north, to where her mother had always said her father had come from. She didn’t know where she was heading, exactly, but she knew she had all the time in the world to find out.

* * *

Four years into her travels, when she was far to the east of her desert home – where lush forests grew and lakes and bogs were plentiful – Theda found herself stumbling upon a young boy, wandering the woods alone. It wouldn’t be the first, but this one made her pause. Upon closer inspection, she could see the slightest curling nubs of horns peeking out of his inky black hair, and when he leapt out of a thick tangle of underbrush, she saw his legs were that of a hooved beast. His ears were like hers, in their floppy, deer-like quality.

Never in her journeys had she seen anyone like herself. Her unblinking shock must have been palpable, for the boy looked up from what he had pounced on, and over at her. She transformed back to her human form, though he gave no response to the strange sight. The people of her village never got used to her shifting; they said it was unsettling. She assumed other creatures like her would think the same, and yet….

“Who’s there?” the boy called out. “I know you’re watching me, I can feel it!”

His eyes were clouded over like the elders who had trouble with sight. Theda had never seen someone so young with the ailment. Today was simply full of surprises. She took a step forward to make noise, which his ears pricked at.

“Yá’át’ééh!” she called out in greeting. The boy focused more on her, tense and glaring. “I’m just passing through, I come from far south.”

“So? What do I have to do with it? Shove off.”

“You have horns.”

The boy flinched back and covered his little nubs. “Th-they’re just growing in, so they’re really small, they’ll be big and intimidating in a few years, so back off!”

“You must be young, mine were about that big when I was only a few decades old.”

He slowly lowered his hands, and his eyes went wide. “You got horns too? Like me an’ dad?”

“Your dad?”

The boy rushed forward, tripping over his own hooves, and reached out to take her hands. When she gave them freely, he tugged her to the east, into thick foliage. “This way! I’ve never met another beast; Dad is gonna be psyched! We’ve been alone for so long, this is great!”

Theda let herself be led by the boy, and as they bustled through the forest, a smile etched itself onto her face. Perhaps she and her father were not the only living lineage of the ancient beasts.

* * *

The boy led her to a clearing decorated with blankets and overgrown plants that seemed to keep the area hidden from the outside. The air inside was rich with floral scents, and the smell of something cooking.

A man lounged by a fire, where he was idly roasting some fruits. He had dark skin, wavy orange hair, and a pair of huge curling horns erupted from his head. Like the boy, his legs were that of a hooved beast, though his looked stronger, and wilder than the boy’s, with tangles and brambles throughout the brown curls of hair that covered his lower half. He glanced up when they entered the clearing, and his eyes widened before he scrambled to stand, abandoning his fruit to the flames.

“Wh-who? What?” he stuttered, and the boy grinned.

“I found someone like us! I didn’t know there were others!”

The man didn’t look as pleased as his son. “Who are you? Where did you come from?”

“My name is Theda. I am Diné; 'Azee'tsoh dine'e clan on my mother’s side, and my father was what my mother called an Ancient Beast. That’s why I have, you know, the horns, and the ability to transform into a buffalo.”

The man hesitated and frowned. “What was your mother’s name?”

Theda blinked in surprise. “What? Um…she’s long dead, I shouldn’t speak her name.”

“Nothing’s going to happen.” He spoke as if he were addressing a child, with an eyeroll and everything.

Theda shuffled uncomfortably, but continued softly, as if being quieter would lessen the risk of her mother’s spirit haunting her. “Chooli. 'Azee'tsoh dine'e clan and Shash di **-.”**

“I don’t care about her clans, buddy.” The man cut her off and pulled a strange face. Theda realized he was thinking. “Chooli… Chooli… Oh right! Down in the desert! I remember her!”

“You- you what?” Theda shrieked. “You knew my mother?”

The man waved her off as if this were an unimportant revelation. “Yeah, I mean, of course I did. It’d be hard to be your father without knowing your mother, right?”

Theda just stared at him.

“Is she my big sister then?” the little boy asked, and his father gave a wide grin.

“Of course, Acosmist, and fate surely brought her here to play with you.”

“Hold on, what?!” Theda exclaimed, and took a step back. “I am not here for either of you; all I want is to find myself and understand where my magic comes from.”

Her father smirked. “And who better to teach you that than the man who gave you magic in the first place? It’s not like there’s anyone else alive who knows. It’s been well over two thousand years since my people were killed off.”

“Killed?”

“I’ll tell you more if you stay. It’d be helpful if you stuck around, considering I have another son coming in a few months.”

Theda stared at him. He was her only source about his people, but she didn’t want to stay. There was still so much to explore in the world, and about herself. She hadn’t yet been to where the great river her people lived by emptied. She wanted to find any other trace of magic in the world, but if he and his son were the only magic creatures, she didn’t want to lose them.

She sighed.

“I’ll stay, but only for the information. It won’t be long; if you waste my time, I’m gone.”

Her father pouted. “But what about family? Your little brothers? They’ll miss you.”

“I have no loyalties to a man who left me before I was born. You had six hundred years to come visit, and you never did.”

He waved her off. “Ah, I knew you’d be strong enough to take care of yourself, you got to be a buffalo. The boys are just rams.” He frowned and mumbled quietly, as if neither Theda or Acosmist had superior hearing, “Not a single muskox, I can’t get a fucking break. Fucking kids.”

Acosmist frowned and stepped closer to Theda. She just gave a snarl.

“I did not ask for an excuse. I just gave my facts. You’ll tell me what I want to know, and I will stay as long as I choose.”

Her father did not look pleased, but he nodded all the same and let her continue.

“First off, you know my name, so it’s only fair that I know yours as well.”

He hesitated, but sighed and slowly replied, “It’s Prea, but I’d prefer you just call me Dad.”

“No. Prea is fine.”

* * *

A month after Theda agreed to stay with Prea and her brother, Prea’s youngest son was born.

His mother was a woman from a town a day’s walk from the clearing, so Theda hadn’t bothered to deal with the hassle of visiting her. Every few days, though, Prea would leave to visit her and return with animal skin bags of food, like corn, rabbit, and squash. With some pressing, Theda eventually got him to tell her that the people who lived there called themselves the Choctaw, and she was a bit disappointed when she had never heard of them in her many, many years. If she had known past trade partners of their tribe – as she had known of a few tribes on her journey – she would have considered visiting herself. But without even a vague idea of who they were, thanks to Prea not wanting to give up information so easily, she knew nothing.

She met her youngest brother once. He was a tiny boy with dark skin littered with strange gold markings, and shocking red hair like Prea. He had fuzzy hooved legs like Acosmist and their father, and his eyes were a deep forest green. He came to visit the clearing along with his mother, who was a very sweet woman who Theda felt bad for. Shikoba had obviously fallen for Prea’s false charm, and swooned with his every word. She would have warned the poor girl about his flightiness, but Prea never left her side during the visit, as if anticipating Theda’s actions.

But she still held no loyalties to the boys, and certainly not to their elusive father, so after another week passed, and Prea spoke nothing of substance about his people (besides that he thought they had been jerks and deserved to be killed off anyways), she packed her things and left.

Acosmist had been the only one to see her off.

“You’re leaving?” he had asked, ears twitchy.

“Your father didn’t hold up his end of the bargain, so yes.”

The boy slumped. “Well…” he muttered, “it was nice to know I have a sister.”

“Acosmist, you’re nearly a hundred. You could fend for yourself, you don’t have to stay,” she said, but he just shrugged.

“Dad says you gotta be able to see to live on your own.”

“And you know what I think of Prea. I think you’re better off alone than with him.” She put her hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “Whatever you decide, I’m going back west to the desert. Come visit someday. Without Prea.”

The boy gave a chuckle and nodded, and Theda ruffled his hair in farewell. Her people never did make a word for goodbye; only a friendly _Alright then_ to tell others that they would meet again someday.

“Hágoónee’, Acosmist.”

* * *

Theda was in no rush to return home. Before meeting Acosmist, she had traveled in a curve, going north a bit before heading more south into the swamp lands. Now, she hugged the south coast, idly trekking west and following the sun throughout the day. Occasionally, she would find a trading village that would let her stay for the night in exchange for some goods she had found during her travels.

Most of the time, she just camped out on her own, and watched the bright lights of her ancestors reflect in the water of the great sea. Out of respect, she would never directly gaze upon them, but it didn’t stop her from enjoying all the various views she could see while she was out.

This is why it took another six years to get back to her home region. Compared to her full six hundred years, though, it felt like time had flashed by far too quickly.

Only, something was off. There was something different in the air, and she didn’t get as many odd looks as she used to.

It was when she traveled through the Inde tribe’s territory that she discovered what exactly had changed. Normally, through these parts, she would want to keep her head down to avoid being seen as a threat. These people tended to attack others for their supplies, and while Theda was plenty strong enough to fight back and win, she didn’t want to harm them. They were only doing what they had to in order to survive, after all. The desert could be unforgiving.

But when she looked up as she walked by a settlement – just a cursory glance to see if she had caught unwanted attention – and she saw a person with scales instead of skin, and teeth made for tearing into flesh to kill, well, she found herself at a standstill. The man – or more accurately, the boy – couldn’t have been much more than seventeen years old, and when he turned to see her staring in open-mouthed shock, he gave her a gleaming smile and waved. He even gestured for her to come into the settlement, which she did haltingly. The boy didn’t seem to mind her cautious behavior.

“Dagot’ee,” the boy greeted once she was near him. “Where are you traveling?”

“Yá’át’ééh. I’m going home. A bit north of here, to the Diné land,” Theda replied, eyeing him. “Are you also one of Prea’s children?”

“Prea?” the boy asked. On closer inspection, his pupils were nothing but unsettling gold slits on the whites of his eyes. They glittered in the sun. “I’ve never heard of that. And I know both my parents. We’re living over there.” He pointed to one of their temporary tents a ways away. This was obviously not their home base, only a brief pause on whatever journey they were on.

“Are your parents ancient beasts, then? Why are you…?”

The boy laughed. “I don’t know what you mean by ancient beasts; my parents are as human as they come! I was just born like this. You know that the world is full of magic, right? People like me have been being born for at least ten years. You should know this, you must be about my age, right? And you’ve got….” He waved at her horns, but she only got more confused.

“I’m over six hundred years old. The only people like me I’ve met were my family.”

The boy blinked, but it wasn’t a normal blink. A clear film of an eyelid slid horizontally across his eyeball, so he never stopped staring at her in shock.

“That’s… strange. I’m surprised you didn’t notice the magic around you growing, then. What were you doing?”

Theda flushed in embarrassment. She had been so many places, and yet was so blind towards what she had been looking for. “I was…traveling….”

The boy gave a soft hum and scratched at the yellow/green scales under his chin, looking at her contemplatively. “So, what’s it like being six hundred?”

* * *

The boy, who later introduced himself as Baishan, introduced her to his traveling group, and they were kind enough to let her eat with them. Her being Diné probably made her less of a threat to them, since they were cousin tribes. Her people had split from the Inde group long before she was born, but their language was still similar, and their customs were not all that different. If she had been Hopi, well, she doubted Baishan would have been able to protect her from a long-lived rival-ship of clans.

Baishan’s parents didn’t let her leave right away, though. They wanted to speak with her about strange happenings that had been seen for about a year. When they learned of her prolonged life, they seemed to hope that she had some insight for their troubles. But men with light skin and shiny armor, riding large hooved beasts was not something Theda could have ever anticipated.

“Are they not magic like your son? You say their skin is different?”

The wife waved her off. “If they are magic, they aren’t very kind to others like them. They aren’t the most pleasant people around, but the moment they see people like you, or Baishan, they demand we kill them.” She snorted. “For our own good, they say. As if Baishan would hurt us, we are his family, and he’s young.”

“What else do they do?”

“they’ve been cutting off our trade routes.” The husband said solemnly. “We haven’t heard from our neighbors far south in months, their runners can’t come up here because of the men. All they do is try to eat our food and tell us our gods are false.”

“Well that’s not very nice.” Theda muttered, and the wife chuckled.

“Six hundred years of experience and your response is that they aren’t nice?”

“Well, I’ve never seen anyone like what you’re describing, I’m sorry I’m not much help.”

“How would your people treat outsiders who so vehemently denied your beliefs for the sake of converting you to their own?”

Theda pondered her question. Indeed, she had been witness to many territorial battles between their neighboring tribes, even taking part in them from time to time. Baishan’s parents had said these men had powerful weapons, and some clans down south had already been badly damaged when they fought back. She scratched her chin, then the back of her head as she came to a conclusion.

“I’d probably kill them before they had the chance to kill me. From what you’ve told me, they pose nothing but a threat waiting to tear us apart.” She looked over their heads in consideration. “though, if you don’t want to spill blood, I would understand. My people are considered great warriors, but not all of us must fight. If you can find a middle ground with these men, that will help you both and reduce the casualties, then by all means, take it.”

The wife nodded. “Yes, that makes sense, thank you.”

Theda smiled. “I hope it helps you some. I wouldn’t want you or your people to be hurt by these outsiders. They sound inhumane.”

Baishan’s parents let her go, and into the red-skied evening she went, to finally return to her homelands.

* * *

In her buffalo form, she reached her village in a day. But she was not met with any warm welcome, only the thick stench of blood and smoke.

She had smelled it from far away, but had hoped with each step closer that the victims were not her people. When she passed the first Hogan, and found the place ransacked, she knew it was a false hope.

She hadn’t seen any of the white men Baishan’s parents had warned her about on her way up, and she had thought that maybe they hadn’t made it up north quite yet. This too, proved to be wrong, because as she walked slowly into town, she saw the men with clothes of metal and skin a sickly pale were in the village’s center, with a number of her people tied up on the ground. Those who weren’t bound, were lying dead some ways away.

One man, who was on the back of the large animal she had heard so much about (but honestly, her animal form was much bigger than it) was giving orders to the others in a language that Theda had never heard before. As he pointed to another house, he glanced behind him and met Theda’s infuriated gaze. His jaw dropped, as well as his arm as he properly turned to her, then he pointed at her and shouted something at his troops.

If harming her people wasn’t enough, he had to go and disgrace her with the ugly sight of an act of war. If he wanted to die at her hand, then his pointing was merely an added offense on top of his already cruel actions, and Theda had no qualms against tearing him to shreds.

Before anyone could move, she huffed and lowered her head, horns primed for gutting anyone who dared come close. Her beast form stood tall, with her head nearly eye level with the man on the animal. Her bulk alone could trample the troops.

The leader called out some sort of command she didn’t understand, and another man came forward with a strange metal device pointed at her.

A loud boom sounded, and burning pain tore through her front leg, and she didn’t care how these outsiders managed to hurt her from so far away with seemingly nothing, she only saw red as she charged them. She could ignore the pain in her leg if it meant she could get a taste of vengeance.

Her charging must have alerted those of her tribe who were still alive of her presence. She heard a cry of her name through the fury ringing in her ears, but it didn’t stop her from skewering men and crushing skulls. Her people were in danger, and by god she was going to help them anyway she could.

Metal clanked under her hooves, blood dripped down her coat, and as she stood in the carnage of her rampage, only the leader faced her. Some of his men had run in fear; the ones who didn’t lay dead on the blood-soaked ground. As she stared at the man who rode the beast, she transformed back to her normal form, so he could get a good look at who exactly would be his demise. His eyes were wide as she rubbed blood from her face.

She pointed at him, and one of her people watching let out a gasp at the action.

“I don’t know who you are.” she said, “but you’ve harmed my people, and you will pay.”

“¡Monstruo! ¡No te acerques!” the man shouted in return.

Theda growled, and the animal the man rode shifted nervously. She could smell its fear, of both her and the dead bodies scattered about. She stepped closer, and the animal stepped back, against the man’s command. He was looking increasingly frustrated with the beast, but when he made a sharp tug on the reins, it reared back with a whinny and he was thrown from its back. Theda moved towards them again, and the animal turned tail and fled. Not that the beast mattered much to her. It was its passenger she was dealing with. Now that they were both grounded, it would be easier to kill him.

As Theda steadily walked towards him, the man scrambled to stand and drew out a long sharp stick of metal, more blade than a spear would be. He aimed it at her, and while the thin edge and pointed tip reminded her of the dangerous teeth of predatory animals, she did not stop her approach. He was shaking, and mumbling things at her that she neither understood, nor cared to understand.

“You’ve hurt us. You’ve cut off our trade routes, and you’ve drawn the blood of many tribes. Someone must show you that what you’re doing is wrong.”

When she showed no fear at the sight of the metal weapon, the man, for some reason, dropped it and held out a necklace adorned with a cross and beads. She hesitated at his odd behavior but not for long. When she was close, he shoved the cross in her face, and shouted in his language. He seemed to expect something to happen.

But nothing did.

When he only started shouting louder in response to Theda’s still-burning fury, she grabbed hold of his arm, pulled him close, and bit down on his unprotected elbow. He screamed, and Theda felt bone crack between her teeth.

It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, but she needed to teach him a lesson.

Blood flooded her mouth, and burned down her throat as she ripped a chunk of flesh out of the man. The burning didn’t cease when the blood reached her stomach, in fact, it only got worse. She pulled back and stared at the man who was screaming and grasping for his partially missing elbow. Her stomach was molten. Her people could only watch as she stumbled back and held her stomach to try an quell the fire inside her. The man was barely a threat now, as he only squirmed on the ground like a snake with no head.

His blood still coated her mouth. It tasted like copper and dust and the feeling of something gone wrong.

Diné weren’t supposed to kill or eat snakes. It was bad luck.

All at once, the burning ceased, and all that was left was an overwhelming chill. It started from within her bones and traveled out to the tips of her fingers. It felt like the blue-tinted cold of a corpse. Her body felt wrong.

The man’s sobs broke through the chilled fog that had overtaken her mind, and when she looked at him again, all she saw was a creature to be eaten. He was hurt, and the smell of his meat – opened for all to see – permeated her senses. Not even five minutes before, this man had been her enemy, but now he was nothing more than an injured rabbit. The only thing he was good for now, was a meal.

The taste of blood in her mouth didn’t taste so bad anymore.

An instinct Theda had never felt before took over, and suddenly, she was hunched over the man, and his screaming stopped for good. There was flesh in her mouth, viscera in her gut, and a hunger that embedded itself deep in her soul.

It seemed as if only seconds passed, and maybe only a few did, but when Theda came back to herself, the man was nothing but torn armor and a puddle of blood and bone.

Theda looked up from her prey, and saw her people staring at her in horror. They were slowly untying their bindings, but those who had freed themselves already were standing guard between her and the ones still tied. One boy picked up a rock and threatened to throw it at her like she were a wild animal he wanted to chase away. She flinched back and let out a whimper, and the boy lowered the rock microscopically.

“Theda…” one of the women who she helped teach how to weave long ago, before she left, called out to her. “What have you done?”

She turned to the woman and felt a strange shame curling in her gut. What had she done? What was wrong?

“You’re safe now.” She said, desperately. “I don’t understand.”

“You… you ate him.” The woman responded, and her voice shook with fear. She stepped forward and pulled the boy with the rock behind her. “You ate a man alive.”

“To save you all. I feel fine, so I’m not being punished, it must have been the right thing to do.”

“Theda, you should know better than any of us that eating the flesh of another human will do you no good; we don’t even speak the name of those who have passed, let alone touch their belongings… what do you think eating the dead will do?”

“But… I feel fine….”

The woman’s face paled, and her nose scrunched before she threw her hands up to cover her nose and mouth. She wasn’t the only one. All of the people closest to her looked to be in various states of disgust, and when Theda reached out to them, they shuffled backwards.

“Theda.” The woman commanded with such force Theda stopped in her tracks without a thought. “Theda, you’re rotting. You’re a living corpse.”

“That’s–” She nearly said that what the woman spoke was impossible, but then she looked at her own hands, and saw black and blue decay creeping up her fingers at a steady rate. There were red and pink sores opening up on her skin that dug deep into her muscle, and yet she felt none of it.

She was still so cold.

She still felt that overwhelming hunger.

But these were her people, and she would never harm them. She had killed _for_ them, but she wouldn’t kill _them_.

When she looked up again, and saw the fear in their faces, she knew she was no longer the ancient knowledgeable neighbor who helped when times were tough. She wasn’t anything they had seen before, and they could only see that as a bad omen. She was no longer a part of their community.

“Theda, is there anything we can –”

She backed up and shook her head. “I’m sorry, I don’t know what – well, I do know what came over me, but I don’t know _why_ ….” She frowned at the gore on the ground. “He just looked so…” She shook her head, and the woman stepped towards her. “So appetizing….”

The sudden fact that line of thinking felt right to her is what drove the realization of her separation deep into her heart. She never was human, but with one act of revenge, she had lost her ability to be humane.

There was nothing more for her here but fear.

Her heart – still beating but just barely – throbbed as she turned from her people and started towards the edge of town. She took a deep breath before turning to her buffalo form. This way, she’d be able to leave them quicker, and have less time to consider turning back. This was for their sake. She had to leave.

Her hands hit the ground as her body twisted and pulled and shifted, but something was different this time. She wondered too late about how her rotten body would adjust to her much larger, bestial form, and someone behind her screamed.

Her muzzle was different. An off-white smooth bone is all she could see of it, instead of the brown thick fur that usually made up her body. She reached up, and the front leg that should have ended in a hoof, was a pitch-black, three-fingered claw. In fact, when she looked down at herself, her body was far too bipedal, and the only fur she had was a thick wiry mane of dead white hair going down her back.

She didn’t even try to look back to see her people’s reactions; she knew it would be nothing good. She just dug her awful new claws into the ground and took off running. She would never get to return, not like this.

But there were people to blame, and surely there were more. The men who rode the hooved beasts were plentiful, if she heard correctly. She certainly had not killed them all in one go. She could use her new predatory instincts to keep what happened to her from happening again.

She had always been considered some sort of protector of her village. An ancient being of magic who had lived longer than anyone, who could pass down ancient knowledge. Now, she could no longer be that teacher for her people.

But she could try to teach the rest of the world why they should have never invaded her lands in the first place.

**Author's Note:**

> all of the non-english languages in this were either Diné (Navajo), Inde (Apache), or Spanish.  
> Yá’át’ééh: The general greeting in Navajo. pronounced Yah-teh. (this is one of the only words I actually know how to pronounce, besides the word for Shade Structure.)  
> Hágoónee: The Navajo language does not have a goodbye, the closest translation is "Alright then" or "see you again"  
> Dagot’ee: Apache (usually western Apache, specifically) for a general greeting.  
> ¡Monstruo! ¡No te acerques!: Spanish. means "Monster! Don't come near!"  
> other terms like 'Azee'tsoh dine'e are Navajo clan names.
> 
> Proper representation is very important to me in my works, because I create to make things others can see themselves in. if there is something in this that is offensive, please tell me and I will try to fix it to the best of my ability. if the offense comes from the main character being the kind of monster that she is, then there's little I will do to fix it though, as it is important to her character and how she grows later in the series. this is just the beginning for Theda, and she is one of my most beloved characters.


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